It should also be mentioned that more than $50.7 million in the budget will help pay a mammoth bill (the word "mammoth" is inserted to exert emotional influence on the reader and it is definitely politically motivated) for promised retirement benefits that's coming due.
The agency has about $950 million in unfunded liabilities for the health benefits of current and future retirees.(not that is just a downright lie. The last time I looked at the figures presented to the Trimet board it was more in the area of $650million) TriMet also hopes to pay for about $274 million in pension liabilities over the next 13 years. (see how Rose has now brought that BILLION dollar figure back into the mainstream. Once again its politically motivated. This story is once again painting the employees as the enemy)
TriMet officials expect the budget to help pay down the pension debt but the not the health-care liabilities, which they expect to decrease under the new union contract.(see how he is putting forth the argument that our health care cuts were not sufficient whatsoever.)
This is the exact same wording that was used BEFORE the new contract. Joe Rose has not mentioned that Mcfarlane himself has called the new labor contract sustainable. Joe Rose keeps talking that the employee cost is unsustainable. He is directly quoting what Trimet officials are telling him.
I don't like to blow my own horn but I called the benefit cutbacks about 2 years before they were actually proposed. It is my opinion, based on my experience and knowledge following the Trimet executive culture, that Trimet will be back for more cuts in the next contract. And they will use all the same language.
Bruce Hansen was conned and it will cost the rest of us real money.
The mainstream media tells us the story of the Oligarchs and their intentions.
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